


One More Sunset

by amyfortuna



Category: TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Fix-It, Interspecies Romance, M/M, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Terminal Illnesses, soulbonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-09
Updated: 2018-09-09
Packaged: 2019-07-05 22:53:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15873360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amyfortuna/pseuds/amyfortuna
Summary: When he finds out Gimli is dying, Legolas can't bear it, and proposes an unusual solution.





	One More Sunset

**Author's Note:**

  * For [spinning_yarns](https://archiveofourown.org/users/spinning_yarns/gifts).



It has only happened twice before in the history of the world that a mortal and an elf have bound their souls together. Everyone has heard of the tale of Beren and Lúthien, how for his sake she chose mortality and to die from this world, that they might be together. For when Lúthien pleaded their case before Mandos, Beren was already dead, and even the Valar cannot hold a mortal soul who has died from leaving the planes of this world forever. 

But the tale of Idril and Tuor is different. For they both came alive to Valinor by ship, and landed there upon the white quays of Alqualondë Rebuilt, two years since Eärendil and Elwing arrived themselves. For Idril and Tuor had wandered far, their ship blown by errant winds to the South of the world. Many years they had spent in a island paradise, before setting out North and West again for Elvenhome. 

They were brought before the Valar, and there Manwë called upon the One for an answer in their case. And an answer was given. Tuor, who loved the Elves, and who above all loved Idril, princess of the Noldor, and had bound his soul to hers, was given immortal life like unto that of the Eldar, and granted a place with them even unto the end of Arda. He was healed of all the ravages of age and restored to the form and vigour of his youth when he dwelt in Gondolin, Idril's bridegroom, Eärendil's father. And together Idril and Tuor built a tower near the shores of Valinor, and there they lived, as it might be said, happily ever after. 

Thousands of years passed by. If soul bonds were forged between mortals and Elves, no tales tell of them, and even the tale of Idril and Tuor was only the whisper of a rumour brought back across forgotten seas. Rings were forged, Númenor fell, the One Ring was lost, and found again. 

And there in Rivendell, seated in a corner of the wide balcony, Legolas saw Gimli for the first time, and unfathomable emotion leaped up within his breast. He knew not at first whether it was hate or love. A long road together, including near the end a journey into the caverns of Helm's Deep and a sojourn in Fangorn Forest, sufficed to convince him that it was love. 

Their journey together also sufficed to convince him that Gimli did not return his feelings, but saw him as a dear friend only. 

* * *

"My good Gimli, let me have a look at you!" Legolas cried, leaping from his horse upon his arrival at Helm's Deep, where Gimli stood waiting for him, 125 years after their first meeting. A few years before, they had both been present at the passing of the King Elessar. His son Eldarion now reigned in Gondor, and every passing day made Legolas more and more sure that the Age of Men had come and the time of the Elves was gone. 

Gimli smiled, leaning heavily upon his axe. "Welcome, Legolas! It is good to see your face again!" He held out an arm, and Legolas embraced him, looking down upon the snow-white hair that crowned his head. The longing and love inside him, held in long abeyance, leaped up once more, and carefully he quashed it down once again, limiting himself to one tender caress of the beloved head. 

Later, deep in the caverns where Gimli's private rooms were, Legolas sat staring at him in the light of the hearth fire as he pottered around the room, fetching warm drinks for them both, gathering up sundry items and putting them by, now and then showing Legolas a gemstone or a particularly shiny piece of jewellery. Legolas fancied how it would be if they were truly husbands, and he had just come in from a day's journey. Oh the pleasure and the delight of it! It would not be so different from now, save that Gimli would pet him in passing, a silken caress of his hair, or murmur endearments along with telling him about his day. And they would belong to each other, truly, truly. 

Legolas came out of the fantasy with a shake of his head, to find that Gimli had finished pottering and taken a seat in the easy chair across from his own, and was peering carefully at him. "Legolas," he called. "Come out of the trees or stars or wherever you may be!" 

"I'm here, with you," Legolas said, smiling softly. But the look on Gimli's face was sober and serious. "What is it?

"I have some bad news to tell you," Gimli said. "I've been putting it off. It's not a kind thing to say in a letter, but when you arrived, I could not bring myself to quench your merry spirits right away. And yet I must tell you." He took a deep breath. "Legolas, I'm dying." 

"What?" Legolas gasped. "Gimli, no. Not yet." 

The look Gimli gave him was kind. "I have a sickness inside my bones," he said. "It's something that mortals get, especially when they are as old as I am. There is nothing to be done. I may live for a while longer yet, but at most I have a year or two." 

Legolas never understood how he got from sitting on the chair to on his knees before Gimli, but the next thing he knew he had wrapped his arms around him and was sobbing softly into his shoulder, while Gimli looked down at him with something like confused affection. "There, there. It's not so bad as all that. We can't all be like you Elves." Gimli patted his shoulder and Legolas drew back at last, looking up at him, eyes blurred by tears. 

"You can't die," he murmured. "You can't."

Gimli huffed out a soft breath of a laugh. "I don't see how you're going to stop me, Elf."

Legolas sat back on his heels, thinking hard. "Come with me to Valinor, and I'll intercede with the very Valar themselves for your life." Without noticing it, he had clasped Gimli's hand in his own. "Please." 

"The Valar don't generally take kindly to mortals turning up on their shores," Gimli said. 

"They let Frodo and Sam in," Legolas answered. "And nobody said _anything_ about dwarves." 

"True enough," Gimli said. "Well, I will. I will come with you." 

Legolas broke into a watery smile. "Great. Now I just have to figure out how to build a boat."

* * *

The sun was setting in wavy golden light. Gimli watched Legolas working on the boat, hauling plank and hewing timber like it was he and not the dwarf who was the axe-bearer. He was sitting on a chair made from pieces of spare wood, honed to fine smoothness under the elf's hands. 

They two were alone on the long white beach, save for the gulls which fluttered about, now and then sounding one of their eerie cries. Legolas redoubled his efforts daily, working frantic against each and every twinge of pain that Gimli made. 

Legolas got up from his knees where he had been sanding a board that would form part of the deck, and came over to flop down by Gimli. "I need just a short rest before I start again," he said, looking hard and sharp at Gimli to see what pain was in his features today. 

Gimli laid a hand on Legolas' shoulder. "Stop. You've done enough for today. Just sit here and watch the sunset with me." 

Tears formed in Legolas' eyes but he willed himself to not let them fall, and reached up, taking Gimli's hand in his own. "I would watch all the sunsets with you, Gimli, for as long as we both draw breath." His heart was beating fast and his hand in Gimli's trembled. "My only regret is that I have not watched every sunset with you since we first met that day long ago in Rivendell." 

Gimli took a deep breath, and Legolas did not dare look at him. "Oh my dear elf," he said. "If I could name my regrets, it would be that I never said what was in my heart, and now it is too late." 

Legolas thought his heart would burst out of his chest from sudden hope. He turned swiftly to look at Gimli. "It is never too late, never!" he cried. "Tell me!" 

"I have loved you all these years," Gimli said, "and I did not dare hope my feelings were returned." 

The tears that Legolas held back suddenly rushed into his eyes again and fell without warning. He wrapped Gimli, chair and all, in his arms, bending forward and laying his head against Gimli's shoulder. 

"I feel the same," he whispered. "I have loved you for so long, and never dared to hope." 

"We are a pair of fools," Gimli said firmly, and then gently brought his mouth to meet Legolas'. 

* * *

Only a few more days of work, and the boat was ready. Hope and love gave Legolas strength and he worked day and night, only taking time each evening to watch the sunset with Gimli and curl up next to him for a few hours of rest. 

Legolas brought Gimli onto the boat, chair and all, and they set sail one evening, the colours of the sunset turning all the sea into golden light. Legolas knelt before Gimli, once they were well underway. 

"I would pledge myself to you in the manner of my people and bind my soul to yours," he said. 

"What will that mean?" Gimli said. "For the dwarves have no such custom." 

"It may mean that we can feel each other's emotions," Legolas said. "In some cases, soulmates can send thoughts to one another, hidden from all others. It means we will be bound before the Valar themselves, connected in ways even they cannot untangle."

"What happens when I die?" Gimli asked, concern crossing his face. 

"I do not know," Legolas answered. "But it may be that a bond between us will extend your life, for I can give you my strength. For that, I am willing to take all else as it comes, even if it means my death. I will bind my fate to yours, even if I am the only elf in your Halls of Waiting." 

Gimli reached out and laid a hand on Legolas' head. "I would not have you sacrifice yourself for me, beloved," he said softly. 

"Then we will wait," Legolas said. "We will speak to the Valar."

* * *

Days went by on the boat as they drifted further into the West over eerily calm seas. Gimli grew weaker, and it was not long before he could only lie in his little cot, waiting. Legolas sat by him whenever he did not have to attend to the boat, and together they waited. 

One day the sea changed from calm to storm in the space of just a few moments. Legolas was absent from Gimli's side for a longer while than usual as he prepared for the rain that would soon be coming. When he returned to their one sheltered space, Gimli was lying silent and still. He was not visibly breathing.

Legolas gasped and dropped down beside him. Gimli's heart still beat but it was sluggish and slow. To Legolas it felt like a thousand eternities were passing between every beat, and he bent all his will to reviving Gimli. 

Nothing worked. Gimli was slowly but surely dying, and Legolas could not save him. 

Desperate, at last he spoke the words he'd wished he would get to say in happier days: "I bind myself to you, Gimli, in love. Forever we shall be as one and our fates shall be alike." 

Gimli took one long slow breath, and without warning Legolas was inside his mind. Gimli was very small, huddled away in a corner, looking up at the Light that beckoned him. Legolas stepped forward, holding out his hand. 

"I will not live in a world where I cannot watch at least one more sunset with you, my love," he said softly. 

Gimli turned his eyes away from the Light and looked at Legolas instead. Their hands met, and the bond between them suddenly roared into life like a flame, glorious, all-encompassing. 

Outside, the storm raged and the boat flew over the waves, beyond thought, beyond Time itself. But there in their minds, they were warm and safe, arms around each other, lips pressed to lips. 

They were startled out of this first wonder of the discovery of their bond by the boat slamming hard into what felt like a wall. Legolas came back to himself to see the boat splintered apart on a huge rock bedded into an unknown shore. With a gasp he sprang up, taking Gimli in his arms, and leaped onto the rock, barely keeping his footing on the slick surface. A few feet away the rock ended, sloping down onto a sandy beach. Legolas jumped down, and in the shelter from the waves behind the rock, set Gimli down. 

But this Gimli was not the ancient creature who had boarded the boat with him days before. This was a Gimli in the prime of his life, looking about the age he was when they'd first met. This was a Gimli -- Legolas knew beyond a doubt -- cured and hale. 

"Where are we, Legolas?" he asked, getting to his feet. It seemed to take him a moment to notice the changes, but then he looked at his own hands, felt his knees, passed a hand over his face. "And what has happened to me?"

"I don't know," Legolas said, almost in tears for joy. "I think, though, that we may be in Valinor." 

"Indeed you are," a great voice said behind them, and both of them whipped around, startled. 

"Gandalf!" Gimli cried out. 

"Mithrandir!" Legolas exclaimed at the same time. 

"The very same," Gandalf said, approaching. "And I'm glad you two finally figured yourselves out!" He winked at Gimli. "You have bound your souls together, and because two so bound cannot be separated by any fate, Gimli has been granted the immortal life of the Eldar. May you both live in peace and happiness hereafter unto the end of days!" He smiled at them both as they turned to each other in joy. 

Legolas clasped Gimli close, kneeling down. "I will watch every sunset with you from now for the rest of time," he said. 

"I'll hold you to that, Elf," Gimli answered, and laughing kissed him.


End file.
